ARTICLES ABOUT EDUCATORS BY DATE - PAGE 4

Alfonso Ruiz isn't sure how his mother did it. As a single mother, she would see her three boys off to school, work as many as three jobs, have dinner on the table, oversee homework and see them off to bed. Then, as they drifted off to sleep, she would hit the books. “She was the little engine that could. She just managed to keep on going,” Ruiz said. Susan Ruiz, 55, of Hagerstown, stayed home with her four children when they were young. But when she divorced in 2000, she needed to find a way to support her family.

Brian Ansel and Kris Pearl thought they were going to spend Tuesday morning observing and helping another teacher work with her students at Bester Elementary School, but the pair was surprised when a group of people walked into the classroom with balloons. Schools Superintendent Clayton Wilcox and officials from the Washington County Public Schools Education Foundation then presented Ansel and Pearl with a large ceremonial check for $1,000. “I was amazed. I was astonished. I was overwhelmed.

Drinking excessive alcohol can kill. That's the message Tony and Lori Bobbitt of Greencastle, Pa., are hoping to get teens to hear, because they don't want another parent to go through the nightmare they have. On May 1, 2008, their 19-year-old son, William Kiel Bobbitt, died from alcohol poisoning. According to police reports, Kiel had been drinking with friends the night before. At 1 a.m. he arrived at the home and was intoxicated. The next morning around 8.30 a.m. he was found unresponsive by his housemates.

Ayako Shiga knows how difficult it can be to learn a foreign language. When she was growing up in Tokyo, she failed her first semester of English in middle school. During a break that semester, she went to visit her father in Australia and couldn't answer the waiter when he asked her, in English, how old she was, because she didn't understand the question. Shiga said that last experience motivated her to learn English and apply to be a high school exchange student in America.

It was a day of education and fun Saturday at Renfrew Institute's Earth Celebration Day and Festival of Art. Now in its 23rd year, about 40 exhibitors and environmental artists set up on the lawn at Renfrew Park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. About 500 people attended Saturday's event. Renfrew Park is the most beautiful park in Waynesboro, said Melodie Anderson-Smith, executive director of Renfrew Institute, and she said it's the perfect place to bring people outdoors to celebrate the Earth.

The largest donation in the history of the Waynesboro Area Business, Education and Community (WABEC) Foundation has allowed the organization to purchase 120 laptops for elementary students. The Eagles Club Inc. of Waynesboro donated $77,116 to WABEC for computers and computer carts in Waynesboro Area School District's four elementary schools. “We just finished up science fair projects, and students used (the laptops) to do research and develop their projects,” said Rita Sterner-Hine, principal of Summitview Elementary School and operations director for WABEC.

The Charlotte's Web puppet shows made a difference. The nagging proved effective. Being able to vent on “one of those off days” was deeply appreciated. The instruction to “never give up” was not forgotten. These meaningful lessons and many more were recounted Tuesday at Berkeley County Schools' Business Education Partnership leadership recognition dinner by a dozen high school seniors who saluted individual teachers who made a lasting impact on their life. The students themselves were celebrated at the reception for their achievements and recognized for their participation in the Business Education Partnership leadership program, which paired them with a mentor in the business community through the school year.

Martinsburg South Middle School teacher Jeremy Anne Knight's attempt to avoid taking up the family profession only led her back into the fold. “I came from a family of teachers, so I thought I was sure of the one thing I wasn't going to do,” said Knight, who was recently named the 2013 middle school Mathematics Teacher of the Year by the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Knight, 47, said she had to join the U.S. Army to figure out that teaching was in fact her professional calling in life after all. “I ran away from it,” said Knight, who grew up on Long Island, N.Y. At the University of Virginia, she was in the Army ROTC Cavalier Battalion and enlisted as an officer upon graduating with a degree in English.

Larry Togans, a former eight-year member of the Jefferson County Board of Education, has been chosen to fill out the remainder of the term of former board President Peter Dougherty. The vacancy was created last month when he was appointed to succeed ousted Jefferson County Sheriff Bobby Shirley. Shirley faces up to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in a civil-rights case involving the brutal beating of a fugitive bank robber in December 2010. His sentencing is pending in U.S. District Court in Martinsburg, W.Va. Togans, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, will serve out Dougherty's term.

Two representatives of the Maryland Competitiveness Coalition were critical of the state's public policies that deal with issues such as private business at a breakfast meeting Wednesday. At the same time, they praised Maryland's emphasis on such areas as education during the Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce's Eggs and Issues breakfast at the Ramada Plaza. The chamber is a partnering organization of the coalition. Kathy Snyder, president and chief executive officer of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, and Tom Lynch, principal of Miles & Stockbridge in Frederick, Md., partnering organizations of the coalition, spoke about the coalition to local business leaders.